Rocket Red Brigade

During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union stood at the brink of global nuclear war with only the balance of power keeping the two giants from destroying each other and the rest of the world with them. The only place where the two differed in power was that the United States was the home to many superhumanly powered individuals and the Soviet Union possessed very few of them. This inbalance worried the Soviet leadership and they set about to balance the so-called "spandex gap."

To this end, the Soviets enlisted the help of a member of the Green Lantern Corps, Kilowog. Kilowog came from a planet that had been destroyed by the villain Sinestro, where the inhabitants lived a very communal lifestyle, one which closely mirrored the ideals of communism. Therefore, Kilowog found the Soviet culture very familiar and decided to aid them in producing a group of enhanced humans to watch out for Soviet interests worldwide. Using Kilowog's power ring and his knowledge of advanced science, the Soviets were able to advance a number of subjects through bio-engineering to be able to control an armored suit with advanced weaponry as if it was part of them. The suits were able to fly, were extremely resistant to damage, could fire blasts of energy and were capable of energy output on the level of a small atomic bomb.

The first of the Rocket Reds, as they came to be known, was a man named Josef Denisovich and he and Kilowog became good friends. When Kilowog discovered that the scientists with whom he was working were abusing the technology he had given them, the Soviet government sent their first Rocket Red, Josef, to deal with the problem. A fight between the two friends ensued and Kilowog was forced to kill his friend.

Despite this intial setback, the Rocket Red Brigade grew in size and number. When the United Nations sanctioned the work of the Justice League creating Justice League International, Rocket Red #7 (Vladimir Mikoyan) was made part of their number. Unfortunately, soon after his arrival in the group, Vladimir was revealed to be an agent of the Manhunters and sought to destroy the Justice League. The League was able to stop him and soon he was replaced with another of the Rocket Reds, Dmitri Pushkin. Pushkin served them as a useful member of the Justice League.

During one adventure, Dmitri's armor was destroyed by the Man, Lobo. It was replaced by technology from Apokolips, home to the villain Darkseid. Dmitri's new armor was much more powerful than his original armor and were later used as a template for future versions of the Rocket Reds' armor.

The Rocket Red Brigade fought during an alien invasion of Earth and attempted to halt a group of other dimensional villains called the Extremists from taking control of the Soviet nuclear weapons. Many of their numbers were killed during this conflict by the Extremists and from that point on, the Rocket Red Brigade fell on hard times.

Members of the Brigade were used by the villain Sonar to attack the Justice League through mind control. Later, members began to work for the Russian mafia as enforcers and later, their weapon systems were used by Vandal Savage to attack a number of major cities. Of late, most of the members of the Brigade are inactive, with only the occasional use of their suits.